New York|New York City Police Study Use of Force; May Issue More Tasers

Supported by

New York City Police Study Use of Force; May Issue More Tasers

Video

New York state and city officials demanded a full investigation into the death of Eric Garner after he was placed in a chokehold while being arrested by the police.CreditCreditSpencer Platt/Getty Images

Days after the death of a man who was subdued by police officers on Staten Island, the Police Department is undertaking a sweeping review of its training and tactics, Commissioner William J. Bratton said on Tuesday.

A senior police official said one change under discussion was the expanded use of Taser stun guns, which are available to a small number of New York officers but have been controversial here and elsewhere because of the risk they can pose to people with heart problems and other medical issues.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said stun guns could be a way to provide officers with more options for subduing people who were resisting arrest and avoiding the close contact that can lead to serious, even fatal, injuries to officers and suspects.

Speaking to reporters at Police Headquarters, Mr. Bratton said the goal of the review was “to develop state-of-the-art use-of-force policies.”

The remarks came as he addressed investigations into the death of the man on Staten Island, Eric Garner, 43. Mr. Garner died on Thursday after officers who had been trying to arrest him for selling loose cigarettes forced him to the ground. In a widely viewed video of the encounter, one of the officers appeared to use a chokehold — banned by the Police Department — to subdue Mr. Garner, who was heard repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe.” Other video taken later appears to show Mr. Garner unconscious and unresponsive to police officers and emergency medical workers.

The medical examiner’s office is conducting an autopsy to determine what caused the death of Mr. Garner, who weighed 350 pounds and had health problems including asthma. Pathologists will seek to determine whether the chokehold contributed to his death.

The Staten Island district attorney’s office is investigating Mr. Garner’s death, and the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau is examining the conduct of the officers. The officer who appeared to use a chokehold has been stripped of his badge and gun, and an officer who helped hold down Mr. Garner has been placed on desk duty.

Image

William J. BrattonCreditMichael Appleton for The New York Times

At the news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Bratton said he had met with F.B.I. officials in New York “to discuss their monitoring of this matter.” Mr. Bratton added that he expected the episode would ultimately be reviewed by federal prosecutors.

Mr. Bratton said that next week he would visit the Police Academy to see the presentations that officers receive on how to “take people down” and “take them into custody.”

During his remarks, Mr. Bratton did not mention Tasers, and it was not clear whether internal discussions about expanding the use of Tasers predated the episode on Staten Island or were in response to it. “There have been conversations, but nothing definitive,” said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal policy debates.

The Police Department has been warier of Tasers than have many departments elsewhere. Stun guns have a scandal-tainted history in New York. In the 1980s, an early-model stun gun was used to force drug suspects to confess.

Emergency Service Unit officers, who are highly trained and handle many of the department’s emergency calls regarding emotionally disturbed people, began carrying Tasers shortly after the 1984 death of Eleanor Bumpurs, a disturbed woman who was shot to death by the police after she threatened officers with a knife.

As the use of stun guns grew around the country, the Police Department modestly expanded their use. In 2008, the department instructed some sergeants to wear Tasers on their gun belts instead of storing them in the trunks of police cruisers, as had been the practice.

The move stemmed in part from a study the department commissioned in 2007 after an unarmed Queens man, Sean Bell, was shot dead by officers. Among the recommendations in the study, conducted by the RAND Corporation, was that the Police Department consider making Tasers more widely available to officers.

But months after the police began to expand the use of Tasers, an emotionally disturbed man in Brooklyn fell to his death after the police shot him with a Taser. In that September 2008 episode, the man, Iman Morales, had engaged in a 30-minute standoff with the police, waving a fluorescent light bulb from a building ledge. A lieutenant on the scene ordered another officer with the Emergency Service Unit to fire a Taser at Mr. Morales, who fell headfirst to the sidewalk. Within days, the lieutenant, Michael W. Pigott, killed himself.

Susan C. Beachy contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: Police Study Use of Force; May Issue More Tasers. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe